News

POSITION: The Michigan Immigrant Rights Center (MIRC) is seeking an Immigrant Children’s Staff Attorney in our Kalamazoo office. The successful candidate will have an emphasis on working with unaccompanied immigrant children, will collaborate with local community programs, conduct outreach and legal screenings, and represent immigrant children in removal proceedings. This candidate will also be involved with supervising law clerks, appeals, and other advocacy on behalf of unaccompanied immigrant children.

Michigan Immigrant Rights Center (MIRC) is seeking applicants to sponsor for 2018-2020 Skadden, Soros Justice, and Equal Justice Works Fellowships to work on a project related to the immigration consequences of criminal cases. This project would be to address the increased demand for MIRC’s expertise in this area and would involve partnering with local public defenders, private criminal defense attorneys, the Michigan Indigent Defense Commission, and other advocacy groups.

On June 23, 2016, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision in U.S. v. Texas, which began when Texas and 25 other states (including Michigan) challenged the implementation of President Obama's 2014 DAPA and expanded DACA programs. The district court in Texas issued a nationwide injunction against the programs, and the federal government appealed.

MIRC has been serving unaccompanied immigrant children for many years. We believe that the greatest unmet need for children who are arriving now in Michigan is legal representation. That's because children who are released to sponsors (who are often family or friends from the child's home country) are still being prosecuted for deportation from the U.S. but are not provided with attorneys in Immigration Court. Children with attorneys are much more likely to win their cases in Immigration Court but few sponsors can afford legal assistance.

A change in Michigan Department of Human Services eligibility rules means that low-income U.S. citizen children whose parents have student visas or some other types of temporary legal immigration status can now qualify for Medicaid. Those who have been denied in the past can reapply.